We build our tie-outs for longevity and flexibility: configurable to how you pitch, and built so the parts that take the wear are easy to replace. It takes more time for us to build them this way, but it's worth it.
- Installing or removing a TensionLock
- Replacing the cord
- Why we build them this way
- DCF tie-outs (archive)
- Conclusion
All YAMA tarps ship with cord loop tie-outs. On the Cirriform and Swiftline, TensionLock tensioners come pre-installed on every tie-out. On our flat and tapered tarps, tensioners aren't included: guying approaches vary enough, and flat tarps especially can be pitched in enough different configurations, that we leave the choice to you.
Each tie-out has three parts: the grosgrain webbing stitched to the tarp, the cord loop attached to that webbing, and the optional TensionLock tensioner threaded onto the loop.
The cord loop is a short length of UHMWPE cord, with the ends tied together using a fisherman's knot. It's what you stake through when you want to stake a tie-out directly to the ground. Running your stake directly through the loop prevents the stake from abrading the webbing. If the cord ever wears through, which is unlikely, it's easy to replace. The webbing underneath barely sees any wear, so the tie-out lasts as long as the tarp does.
The webbing itself is stitched to the tarp with a boxed-x pattern. More on that in the Why we build them this way section.
Installing or Removing a TensionLock
On the Cirriform and Swiftline, TensionLocks come pre-installed on every tie-out. You might want to remove them to shave a few grams or if you prefer a different tensioning method. On flat and tapered tarps, you might want to add them. Either way, the install and removal process is easy: unhitch to remove, reinstall using a girth hitch. You don't need to cut or untie anything.
If you want to be able to quickly move a tensioner between tie-out points without unthreading it, we offer the Fastline Clip: a tensioner sewn to a clip that attaches and detaches in seconds.
Replacing the Cord
The cord loop is designed to be the wear point in the system. It takes the abrasion of the stake, so the webbing doesn't have to. The cord lasts a long time. You're unlikely to ever need to replace it, but if it does wear through, it's a quick fix that you can do yourself.
Cut a new length of cord, about 6-7 inches. Thread it through the webbing tab, bring both free ends together, and tie them with a fisherman's knot: tie a simple overhand knot in one end around the other strand, then repeat on the other end. Pull both knots snug until they seat together. Thread the TensionLock back using a girth hitch, and you're done.
This process isn't specific to YAMA gear. It works on any shelter with webbing tie-outs.
Why We Build Them This Way
Two reasons:
- It solves the problem of the stake wearing through a webbing tie-out. The cord loop moves that wear point to something cheap and easily replaceable.
- The tensioners come off without cutting anything. Don't want them? Take them off. Changed your mind? Add them back. With typical tensioner installations, you need to cut them off to remove and sew new ones back on if you want to add them.
No Bartacks
Bartacks are the usual default for attaching tie-outs, and they work fine on heavy materials like pack fabric. On the lightweight fabrics used for tarps and shelters, they're the wrong choice.
A bartack concentrates a very high density of stitches into a small area. All those thread penetrations weaken the fabric right where the stress is highest. To compensate, you need heavier reinforcement backing the stitching. But that creates a mismatch: a heavy patch on light tarp fabric, with an abrupt edge where the two meet. Under load, stress concentrates at that boundary. The tarp fails at the bartack or along the edge of the reinforcement.
We use a boxed-x stitch to distribute load over a larger area with fewer perforations. The fabric keeps more of its strength. You don't need heavy reinforcement to compensate, so there's less of a hard boundary for stress to concentrate at.
A Throwback to Our DCF Tie-outs: How We Built Them
We no longer make DCF shelters, but we built a lot of them, and we built them differently than most. We were even featured in Dyneema®'s documentary Ultralight during that era. This is a record of how we built them, and why DCF demanded this level of care.
Getting DCF tie-outs right means understanding how the material behaves under stress and over time. DCF (Dyneema® Composite Fabric) behaves differently from silnylon or silpoly. It's less stretchy, usually lighter, and less forgiving of poor design. We've seen poorly designed or constructed DCF shelters start failing within days. Side note: several years back at an industry trade show, one big-name brand touting its new "lightest tent ever" had tie-outs failing on their display model that had never even been used.
Construction
Our DCF tie-outs were wider than most webbing tie-outs, about an inch across. That extra width spread forces over a larger area. We started with multiple layers of DCF laminate, oriented at different angles to increase strength, improve dimensional stability, and resist distortion.
We bonded those layers to the tarp and stitched through with a boxed-x pattern. Then we bonded a final DCF cover layer over the stitching. The bonding did the real work, carrying a significant portion of the load, so the stitching didn't shoulder everything on its own.
Radial reinforcements ran outward from the attachment point. In our earlier shelters, those reinforcements were DCF. Later, as we wound down our DCF line and depleted our supply of DCF reinforcing material, we switched to a woven polyester that could be bonded. Both worked well, but the DCF reinforcements would be our ideal choice. We made them deliberately large, and at higher-stress locations we used multiple offset layers rather than a single thick patch.
The offset was important. A single thick reinforcement has an abrupt edge: stiff and thick on one side, light tarp fabric on the other. That boundary is a stress concentration point and also creates a defined edge on which the tarp likes to repeatedly fold. By offsetting multiple thinner layers, you step down the stiffness gradually and sandwich the tarp material in the middle. The transition is gradual rather than abrupt.
What Goes Wrong With Other Approaches
The common failure pattern we saw from other brands is small, thicker reinforcements. They're significantly cheaper to produce due to the small size, and the thickness is needed to carry the tie-out stitching. But they concentrate forces at a hard boundary, and DCF doesn't forgive that.
DCF presents some unusual characteristics. It can shrink (from repeated crinkling), yet it can also permanently stretch under sustained tension. Those rates differ between a thick reinforcement patch and the tarp fabric around it. Over time, that difference creates issues at the boundary: delamination, wrinkling, and eventually pinholes in the tarp material near the reinforcement edge.
If you've researched DCF shelters, you've possibly run across the advice to add reinforcing tape around your tie-outs before you have a problem. That advice exists because the original construction left things to be desired. A well-built tie-out on a properly reinforced shelter shouldn't need preemptive repair tape.
We took the slower approach: more layering, more bonding, more careful transitions between materials. It cost much more to produce, but it was the obvious approach for us.
Why We Stopped Making DCF Shelters
Phasing it out wasn't an easy call, and it's more than we want to get into here. Maybe we bring it back someday. For now, we're focused on silpoly.
Conclusion
All of this comes back to the same basic idea: make wear points simple to replace and spread load over as much fabric as possible. The cord loop takes stake abrasion so the webbing doesn't, and the boxed-x stitch spreads load.
The girth-hitch attachment on the TensionLocks lets you remove, add, or move tensionlocks without cutting or sewing. The tie-outs stay reconfigurable because the attachment method is non-destructive.
If the cord ever wears through, replace it with a few inches of cord, a fisherman's knot, and a few minutes. The webbing underneath remains untouched.
We've been building shelters for 20 years and can't recall a single failure of a cord loop tie-out. It costs more to build this way and takes more time, but it's what makes sense.